The present invention relates to telephone signaling systems in general, and more particularly to methods and apparatus for controlling telephone rings.
It is curtly not possible for a telephone caller to know prior to placing a telephone call to another party the number of rings and the delay between rings that will occur at the called party""s telephone. This is due mainly to the differences between telephone systems, even within a single country or area code. Furthermore, different providers of PABX services utilize different ring generators, and those PABXs that have computer interfaces often take different routes to the various destination computers, causing rings and delays at a particular client computer to vary from those of another client computer, even within the same PABX system.
The present invention seeks to provide an automatic tuning process whereby a telephone caller may know prior to placing a telephone call to another party the number of rings and the delay between rings that will occur at the called party""s telephone. The invention is preferably implemented using a computer, such as a personal computer or a wireless computer device such as a World-Wide-Web enabled device, that is adapted to place a telephone call via a land-based or wireless telephone network. The called party""s computer or wireless device then provides ring and delay information to the calling computer via a computer network. The ring and delay information may then be used by the calling computer to cause a predetermined number of telephone ring signals and ring separation delays to occur at a called computer or web-enabled wireless device in order to convey information thereby.
There is thus provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for determining the time required for a server to effect a telephone ring signal at a client computer, the method including tracking elapsed time concurrently at the server and the client computer, initiating a telephone call from the server to the client computer after a specified time period has elapsed, detecting at least one telephone ring signal at the client computer, recording the time at which the telephone ring signal is detected at the client computer, and transmitting the recorded time to the server.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the method further includes transmitting an indication of the specified time period to the client computer.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention any of the transmitting steps includes transmitting via a network.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the method further includes maintaining the call for a predetermined length of time sufficient for three ring signals to be detected at the client computer.
Moreover in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the method further includes discontinuing the call subsequent to the detecting step.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for conveying information to a computer, the method including notifying the computer of at least one ring-and-delay combination and the information that the combination represents, initiating a telephone call to the computer, effecting the ring-and-delay combination at the computer via the telephone call, and detecting the ring-and-delay combination at the computer, thereby conveying the information to the computer.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention the method further includes varying the ring-and-delay combination in accordance with an algorithm known in advance to the computer.
There is additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for conveying information to a computer, the method including determining the time required for a server to effect a telephone ring signal at the computer by tracking elapsed time concurrently at the server and the computer, initiating a telephone call from the server to the computer after a specified time period has elapsed, detecting at least one telephone ring signal at the computer, recording the time at which the telephone ring signal is detected at the computer, and transmitting the recorded time to the server, notifying the computer of at least one ring-and-delay combination and the information that the combination represents, initiating a telephone call to the computer, effecting the ring-and-delay combination using the recorded time at the computer via the telephone call, and detecting the ring-and-delay combination at the computer, thereby conveying the information to the computer.
It is appreciated throughout the specification and claims that the term xe2x80x9cautomatic tuning processxe2x80x9d refers to a procedure for determining the time required for a computer server to effect one or more telephone ring signals at a client computer, that the term xe2x80x9csignaling operationxe2x80x9d refers to a procedure for causing a predetermined number of telephone ring signals and ring separation delays to occur at a client computer, that the term xe2x80x9ccomputesxe2x80x9d refers to any device incorporating a central processing unit, such as, but not limited to, a personal computer, a notebook computer, and a cellular telephone, and that the term xe2x80x9cnetworkxe2x80x9d refers to a wired or wireless computer network or other telecommunications network capable of conveying electronic transmissions between computers.